In officer-involved shootings, those selected to investigate the shootings have often worn a badge before, reveals a new report from the Bay Citizen. The issue of officers investigating officers emerged after a controversial fatal officer-involved-shooting in Oakland last year.
In the Bay Area, District Attorneys from four counties confirmed using retired officers to investigate police shootings, a practice that spurs controversy in communities suffering from a lack of public trust in law enforcement. That’s why some local governments have prohibited the practice, leaving the investigations to specially trained prosecutors.
In Alameda County, typically a retired officer works to gather evidence about a shooting, but then the information is turned over to an attorney from the District Attorney’s office for analysis and reporting.
Records of investigations of police involved shootings are protected from public disclosure, and even families involved in the shootings are often denied seeing the entire files.
Read the full story at the Bay Citizen.